Cyber criminals threaten to disrupt life

CHANDIGARH: The threat of a cyber attack on key institutions of governance and commerce in Chandigarh can no longer be ignored. The third such incident has been reported in the last 18 days and seven websites have been hacked.

In the latest incident on February 13, websites of three Sector 20 based shopkeepers were hacked and objectionable material was posted by the hacker, who introduced himself as a Pakistani national. The material posted on the sites comprised expletives and vulgar jokes.

On January 26, websites of three shopkeepers in the Sector 20 market, which is said to be the technology hub of Chandigarh, were hacked and pro-Pakistan, anti-India and anti-Indian Army slogans were written on the home page.

"Our website was running fine till Wednesday afternoon but was hacked in the evening. We are unable to open the home page and the various links. We called beat police officials but they could not understand anything," said Raghav, a technical engineer at the shop of one of the victims.

According to the affected shopkeepers, the hackers deliberately chose Valentine's Day as traffic of visitors on their sites is more during this time. "We are running some Valentine's Day special offers and details are available on the websites. We have a strong presence on the social networking sites. Everyday, hundreds of visitors access our sites. Abuses and vulgar messages being posted on the home page is really embarrassing for us," said Deepak Sharma, one of the affected parties.

Victims said the cyber criminals managed to hack their websites despite the fact that they are using the best anti-virus software. "The hacker introduced himself as Wasim Gujjar. He had written expletives against Indians and the country. We filed a police complaint but nothing came of it," said Naresh Garg, president of the Sector 20 market association.

Garg runs a laptop and hi-tech accessories shop in Sector 20 and his website was hacked on January 26. Harjit Kaur, station house officer of the Sector 19 police station said these complaints have been forwarded to the cyber crime cell of the Chandigarh police.

Online enemies

On February 6, a case was registered against unidentified men for hacking the website of the Punjab police Housing Board Corporation.

On January 26, websites of three shopkeepers were hacked by Pakistani hackers. It was an attempt to disturb the communal harmony of the country.